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Eponette Ternardiel
Eponette "Ponie" Ternardiel, born Jean Valerie, was a professional limmie player. She has won two Galactic Cups of Limmie with the Bakura Miners and currently plays for the Carratos Pirates. Early Life Born on Nar Shaddaa, Jean had few advantages as the child of a working class couple who struggled to find enough credits to live. The tension of economics sometimes was misdirected at Jean by her father. At the age of ten, she joined one of the Valor Foundation youth limmie leagues, a source of after school activity for many Vertical City youth. In limmie, Jean found an escape from her daily squalor and structure for her life. Limmie came to be one of the most important things in her life. Mandatory school attendance required by the Valor Foundation helped keep her on track for a high school diploma. In high school, Jean's Valor Foundation-issued cleats were stolen from her locker. With no credits to replace them and in shame of having lost them, she stole a replacement pair from an independently-owned sporting goods store near Old Six Boroughs Stadium, breaking a window in the process. Around that time, Jean left her family and began living on her own, assisted by the Valor Foundation. She also changed her name to Eponette Ternardiel to reduce her chances of being found by members of her family. Collegiate Career Eponette, or "Ponie" as many people called her, received attention from Vertical City University as a result of her Valor Foundation league play. She earned a scholarship position on the team, her only chance at receiving a university education. Despite a slight frame, Ternardiel was trained to play "Vertical City limmie" at VCU with an emphasis on physical play over skill. She was effective in this role, but prone to taking penalties. Ponie finished at VCU having an average career. She was not ranked by HSN Scouting going into the 275 Elite League Limmie Draft. However, Valor Foundation executive and former Bakura Miner captain Declan Adama arranged to have Ponie secretly scouted by the Miners during an offseason friendly game on Nar Shaddaa. Quinn Cundertol, general manager of the Miners, was impressed by her play and drafted Ponie in the third round of the Draft. Vertical City Limmie in Blue and Gold Using her draft signing bonus, Ponie paid current Valor Foundation players to purchase cleats from the sporting goods store she had robbed as a way of secretly trying to right her high school crime. Ponie earned a starting spot out of training camp, where she became friends with fellow rookie and off-the-board draft pick Lizbit Comstock, the goalkeeper who would go on to win the 275 Ingbrand Award, bonding over sharing unenviable childhoods. In her play, she immediately brought a new level of physical toughness to the Miners, a team that had previously not been as adept at playing gritty, preferring a skill-oriented approach to the game. As in college, Ternardiel drew periodic penalties for her play. As a result, Miners head coach Gaeriel Valerii often rotated Ponie in and out of the lineup for other half backs during a game. However, Ternardiel never lost her coach's trust on the field. In her first season, Ternardiel helped take the Miners dominate the Elite League, winning the Commissioner's Trophy and the Galactic Cup of Limmie in 275. For someone who had grown up poor on the Vertical City, it was the realization of a dream she had never thought possible for herself. Her Past Catches Up Prior to the 277 Miners-Smugglers game to open the 277 season, Ternardiel was arrested in the tunnel by Vertical City Police Department officer Jaden Vercrup, who, upon seeing Ternardiel on the Holonet playing for the Miners, had realized she matched the teenager on the security footage from an unsolved robbery and vandalism case concerning a sporting goods store near Six Boroughs Stadium. The Miners organization, on the instructions of fellow half back and player-owner Falene Trieste, paid for legal representation for Ponie, who confessed to the crime during her trial. The defense team presented Ponie's actions as part of a larger narrative of her life, including her subsequent efforts to atone for the crime, in an attempt to achieve jury nullification. The pretrial motions and trial itself lasted through the entire 277 regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs. The jury reached a verdict shortly before the Galactic Cup Final, in which the Miners were to play, that Ponie was not guilty. Ponie rejoined the Miners after spending 11 weeks in a Nar Shaddaa prison. Her teammates noticed in the locker room that she had large bruises on various parts of her body. Ternardiel's only comment was, "Not everyone's a Miners fan in there." The Miners went on to win the Galactic Cup of Limmie that year, Ponie's second. She was nominated for the 277 Zumtak Award, later renamed the Vigo Award in acknowledgment of persevering through her legal difficulties and returning to the limmie field victorious after her imprisonment and exoneration. New Horizons After the 278 season, in which Ponie was part of her second Commissioner's Trophy-winning season with the Miners, she entered contract negotiations as a result of her expiring draft contract. She was unable to come to terms with the Miners over a difference in pay. Ponie became a free agent and stated that she was interested in playing for her hometown Smugglers or the second year Carratos Pirates, both of which she felt played a physical style of limmie that meshed well with her skill set. She eventually signed with the Pirates bringing much needed experience to the team. Ternardiel was captain of the Pirates' 283 Galactic Cup championship team, ironically beating the Bakura Miners. Victory Lap In 286, the Pirates failed to sign Lizbit Comstock after the Miners were unable to reach a new contract with her. Ternardiel took this personally, having heavily lobbied for Comstock to join the Pirates. With her own contract coming up at the same time, Ternardiel entertained offers from other teams. She ultimately returned to the Miners on a two year contract, which she planned to be her last as a limmie player. The move worked out well. Ternardiel was a key part of the Miners' 287 championship team and 288 squad that led the league in points allowed. With four Galactic Cup championships, Ternardiel retired as one of her time's most accomplished defenders.